So much of it really did just boil down to "Leverage large population to produce new infrastructure. Use infrastructure to increase productivity of large population. Distribute gains to engage more of the population with new infrastructure. Repeat", for sixty years.
The US dumping trillions in material wealth into the country after Nixon and Mao opened up trade definitely helped spur the country along. But the Chinese were going to get here sooner or later even if the US had continued with a Cuba-style embargo (as illustrated by Cuba's continued economic growth in defiance of sanctions).
While the Americans run around trying to be The Best Country Evar!, the Chinese satisfied themselves with spending every day improving themselves over where they were yesterday. That's the real nut of smart-politics behind it all. Nixon/Reagan/Clinton/Bush/Obama opening the door to tons of free tech and trade didn't hurt. But it wasn't strictly necessary.
Regardless of ideology, cause who knows what actually going on, it’s just really smart politics
So much of it really did just boil down to "Leverage large population to produce new infrastructure. Use infrastructure to increase productivity of large population. Distribute gains to engage more of the population with new infrastructure. Repeat", for sixty years.
The US dumping trillions in material wealth into the country after Nixon and Mao opened up trade definitely helped spur the country along. But the Chinese were going to get here sooner or later even if the US had continued with a Cuba-style embargo (as illustrated by Cuba's continued economic growth in defiance of sanctions).
While the Americans run around trying to be The Best Country Evar!, the Chinese satisfied themselves with spending every day improving themselves over where they were yesterday. That's the real nut of smart-politics behind it all. Nixon/Reagan/Clinton/Bush/Obama opening the door to tons of free tech and trade didn't hurt. But it wasn't strictly necessary.